Darrington Parish

STAPLETON

STAPLETON, a township, in the parish of Darrington, wapentake of Osgoldcross, liberty of Pontefract; (Stapleton Park, the seat of the Hon. Edward Robert Petre) 4 miles from Ferrybridge, 4½ from Pontefract, 12 from Doncaster. Pop. 109.

This Mansion stands in a large and beautiful Park, watered by a stream that falls into the river Went, in the midst of the most fertile part of the county, bounded by an expanded range of distant hills; it was built by Edward Lascelles Esq. afterwards Earl of Harewood, and in which the present Earl of Harewood was born. The centre of the principal front is ornamented with four Ionic columns supporting a pediment. The whole building is of stone, and is now entered by a handsome doric portico, lately added. In the Chapel, which is particularly neat, is an admirable Painting of the Crucifixion; and in the Library, is a Portrait of the great Lord Petre, by Romney; also one of Lady Petre, by Gainsborough; the father and mother of the present proprietor, the Hon. Lord Petre. --Neale's Views.